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Friday, February 27, 2015

The straws in a cup reward system

We are three weeks into a new reward system. Basically it's straws in the cup for good behaviours and taking straws out for bad behaviour.My neighbour does a similar things with pop sticks. It seems to be working for her kids, and I was willing to give it a go. This is opposed to chaos and tearing my hair out in frustration. I was taking some control back where their behaviour is concerned.To earn a straw the girls do things like

brushing teeth

making their bed

cleaning up toys

eating all their dinner

doing amazingly good things

The cups live on top of our fridge, with a few other things, like a sixty odd year old photo of my dear Granny,some paint brushes and other odds and ends.

They lose strawsfor bad behaviour, like clobbering each other, or not doing what they are told. Or for squeezing a whole bottle of shampoo into the bath! You should have heard them howl when I took a straw out of both their cups for not picking up toys. This is when I knew, this straw thingy was a good thing.Once they have six straws in their cup, they get a treat. It could be of their choosing, like a trip to the playground, a playdate, or an ice cream for example.So far, they have had six straws twice. So I have taken all the straws out and replaced them with an Easter egg. Then the straw earning starts again.

Also I printed out a simple reward chart. When they earn a reward for six straws, they get to colour in a star on the reward chart. When all the stars are coloured in, they can buy a toy from the toy shop, or Kmart or wherever. My kids really don't have that many new toys(compared to some), so I guess this is a way that we can give them more in a measured way. They get that important lesson that good things are earned and new toys don't grow on trees.This reward system seems to be working for us right now. The key I guess, is to be consistent.

This is lovely Alicia! These things work so well with the little ones. Now I just need a solution for the teen ones - whole new set of tricks for that lot! PS: Your Grandmother looks quite a bit like you! x

This sounds like a good little system! I have recently taken to doing a sticker reward chat because I was feeling pretty murderous towards my four year old and all his naughty antics. So far, it's helping but I have to remember to really stick to removing stickers if the behavior isn't up to scratch too. They do respond to these kinds of charts I think. Glad you're winning again!

Love this so much. As a teacher we obviously have many behaviour systems very similar to this that we use in the classroom and I used to try and get my parents follow the same sort of thing at home (for those parents who used to come and ask for advice anyway, I wouldn't dare tell parents how to raise their children!).Good on you for taking back control and giving it a go and I am glad you are seeing the results as it obviously means something to the girls and they are enjoying it!